It’ll get crazier than this. Algorithmic lives are a reality.
Deborah Caldeira, a masters student at the London School of Economics, told me that after 86 unsuccessful job applications over the past two years – including several Hirevue screenings – she is thoroughly disillusioned with automated systems. She says that without a person across the table, there’s “no real conversation or exchange,” and it’s difficult to know “exactly what the robot is looking for”.
Wachter notes that even minimal human involvement – approving a list of automatically ranked CVs, for instance – could exempt companies from the obligation of disclosing that they use automated systems and of enabling individuals to challenge the decision. She also says a much-discussed “right to explanation”, requiring a company to explain how a given automated decision was made, will not be legally binding.
“Legislators find this difficult because these programs are very technical, highly complex and difficult to understand, even to the experts who build them. And their workings are often protected by copyright held by a company,” she says.
Contested Realities 